What do you want on Television / DVD ?

[interfusionfilms]

We are a London based television production company and we would like to hear from you about what you like to see in a new gardening programme. Tell us what you would like to see, or just see more off in a new gardening programme. Also, we would be interested to hear your views about possible presenters. Let us make a programme that the gardening/allotment community are wanting to see.

Thank you.

enquiry@interfusionfilms.com

[eskymo]

make-overs are a pain the wotsit!

I would prefer to see a TV version of the 'grow your own' magazine showing in detail how to grow fruit and veg - something that concentrates on seasonality and gives advice on what to plant when, what bugs and pests are active at what times of year and how best to deal with them organically.

I know 'gardeners world' deals with some of these issues, but only part of the programme is dedicated to this. Not all gardeners are interested in flowers and other plants. I personally would like to watch a TV programme that ONLY deals with fruit and veg and only mention flowers when it comes to companion planting.

Allotments are becoming more and more popular and I know more and more people who, like myself are converting their own gardens into vegetable patches in order to grow their own fruit and veg. My own reasons are that I want to be more self sufficient, what I grow tastes better than the tasteless supermarket fair and also what I grow is seasonal. A programme that deals with these concerns would be a godsend.

Another issue to deal with is the overwhelming power of supermarkets. If the relationship between farmers and the supermarket buyers can be highlighted and the public can be made more aware of how 'their' supermarket food is grown, produced and packaged, I think this will help to raise awareness about the level of chemicals in the food bought in supermarkets and the pressure that farmers are put under to produce 'perfect' looking food that is totally tasteless. Farmers nowadays select their crop due to it's looks and shelf life rather than what it tastes like as they are under so much pressure from supermarket buyers to provide the goods. So much so that alot of our heritage varieties of crop are slowly diminishing.

If these kind of issues could be raised in a national TV programme, more people will be made aware and maybe things will begin to change.

[blossom]

I totaly agree with eskymo. Would be nice to have details for fruit and veg like where they come from, different variaties, and how to get seeds and then store the veg etc. Crop rotation and growing veg in small spaces would also be good.

I get quite fed up with all the flower parts on programmes, and that the make over ones never include a vegi patch.

[eskymo]

That's why I find the Grow Your Own magazine so refreshing as it deals with all the issues I want it to.

[sewer rat]

Bloody Hell Eskymo - you were on a roll with your earlier post.
Agree with you 100% re the type of programmes I like to see - or rather don't see at the moment cos there aren't any !
As we all know, interest in growing your own has sky-rocketed in the last couple of years, yet the TV bods seem very slow to catch onto this market - maybe they think all allotments are worked by old retired men with flat caps and cardies - not by young (or younger) professionals and their families.
We need a programme dedicaed to this ever growing family - the Beeb tried it recently but aired the programme during the day when we all work - prats!

[eskymo]

I could've gone on and on, but thought it best to cut my rant short.

I don't watch much TV as there isn't a lot on the box that appeals to me at all. We haven't got cable or sky and will proabably one of the last people to go digital as it isn't something we think is worth investing in. Why spend loads of money on something you will hardly use - I really grumble about the rising TV Licence fees when I don't think I'm getting the service I'm paying for.

So when an opportunity like this comes along of course I'm going to shout my opinion from the rooftops - I'd be stupid not to. It's nice to see that a company is doing it's research in the right place, unlike the BBC with their recent flop.

[Sunbeam]

I would rather have a programme dedicated to growing fruit and vegetables. Being an avid cook, I want to know that I am getting the best produce going - and that is always that which is picked directly from your own garden.

A programme which dedicates itself to demonstrating the do's and don't of 'growing your own' and showing how easy it actually is (if I can do it...) will entice people to do the same - you only have to see what 'changing rooms' did for the home decoration trade - and anything that gets people eating proper food and not those bags of dried up insipid looking veggies packaged & sold in the name of convenience has got to be a bonus...

Bring us a proper gardening programme - we have a whole channel of make overs!!

[nick the grief]

Yep you get my vote eskymo. Thats why I bought the dvd of the allotment. I'm not in the right area for the program (it was ITV West) but it's the first time i've seen anything like this since Grow with Joe & Gardeners world with Geoffery smith! (early 90's?). Lotties are hip & trendy now so why don't we have a programme about them.

As to presenters, don't get me started!

[Shortie]

One program I like to watch on repreat is Heaven's Garden. No idea what channel it was on when first done, but it's the one where the pub The Potkiln converted it's back garden to fruit and veg. Something a bit more meaty though, and covering allotments would be fab.

Also, as I like to be nosey, maybe a quick peek at a famous chef/garden presenter's own kitchen garden each series or something...? A nit like a mini MTV Cribs, but the garden only

[eskymo]

Sunbeam - How true!

If only every family in the UK planted one courgette plant and saw at first hand how easy it is to get a crop from just one plant, I'm sure so many people would be converted. Growing veggies does have it trials and tribulations but so much of it is easy that's it's worth giving it a go. You can plant so much in such a small space and get so much from it.

Maybe we need a program that sets us challenges - like the growbag challenge in Grow Your Own. If every month we were given suggestions on how to recycle stuff like plastic bottles and put them to good use, or how to reduce your waste going to landfill and offered incentives for the best suggestions sent in more and more people would get involved. This would also be a good way to get the kids involved.

This country needs to get pro-active. Sometimes I think I've been born in the wrong era - I would have fitted in better at the times of 'Dig for Victory'.

[pigletwillie]

As more vegetable seeds are now bought than flower seeds, how about filming what consumers really want and that stuff on veg and fruit and not just long flower beds and other flowery stuff??

[bramble]

I want to see more programmes, with ordinary people like ourselves, groeing veg and fruit. Don,t want to see the rich and the famous ,or how they go about it, just want to see mr and mrs average trying to do the best they can with what they,ve got. Want to see someone come along and give advice on buying the best seed at the best prices ,and giving us the best advice on getting the best out of our plot of land for all the effort we put into it ,instead of big seed merchants and big garden centers trying to extract the last penny out of us gardeners who are trying to be self sufficent against all the odds.

[eskymo]

good point! Hey maybe we should all volunteer and they should come and visit each and every one of us - that way they will cover most of the UK and get top tips from every region and so be able to inform on regional differences in weather and climate and soil type...mind you I think we're all of the camera shy ilk!

[Jaxom]

I would like to see detailed advice on seasonal vegetables and fruit growing.
Taste trials for fruit and vegetables. I want to know what it tastes like. If I am going to spend months growing vegetables then I want to know it will be yummy and not like bland cardboard.
Supermarkets choose vegetables and fruit by the shelf live and looks. I know we eat with our eyes but surely our taste buds should come first.
I have bought the Victorian Kitchen Garden DVD and love watching how things were done to keep food on the table during winter or out of season.
I love flowers and have a garden of perennials but this year it is a case of ..If I can't eat it then I haven’t got too much time for it.
I have been growing flowers for companion planting so would enjoy learning more about that.
Herbs and herbal cures would also be interesting to know more about.
Growing vegetables in containers to get kitchen gardening on a small scale.
Growing vegetables in window boxes and on small balconies.
How to trim and prune fruit trees.
Making various organic pesticides to rid the garden of pests.
Dealing with wildlife that invades the plot and destroys your hard work.
Square foot gardening.
Using a small Greenhouse wisely.
Getting the most from your greenhouse year round.
Seeing people get the most from little money. I don't want to see rolls of wild flower turf for £30 a roll when some seeds in a pack would do the whole garden for £30 or less. I don't want to see yuppie gardeners with more money than sense. Seeing them spend hundreds of pounds on floral displays just for Christmas gets my goat. Most of us live in the real world where growing vegetables helps the money in our pockets go a little further.
Getting the most from small spaces.
Recycling things to help grow vegetables in.
Attracting good wildlife to the garden.

Ohh I think I had better stop now… I better let someone else have the talking stick now.

[WiZeR]

Being a beginner myself I'd like to see more detailed gardening programmes. As mentioned, Gardener's World is a great all-rounder. "The Allotment" series, first shown on ITV, was great but I felt it was a bit of a mish mash and not really instructional. It would be great to see a programme dedicated to veg growing that is aimed at the younger viewer. By younger I mean below the age of 30. I think that vegetable growing still holds a bit of a 'old man's' stigma. I think in the current climate veg growing and issues like water conservation are becoming more important to the general public. It is the right time to catch people's imagination.

I also can not stand these garden make-over programmes, Ground Force was good but all the others are just annoying!

If you are looking for a presenter who is young, handsome ( ), a bit cocky but knows next to nothing about gardening..... i'm your man!